Rubley Is Getting His Shot to Win Rams’ Backup Spot : Football: After a silent rookie season, the ninth-round pick hopes to make noise this summer--and prove he should be No. 2 quarterback.

T.J. Rubley’s girlfriend has a sister, and she’s dating Sylvester Stallone, and you know how it goes--double dates, fancy restaurants, wild parties.

One moment the kid’s just a ninth-round pick from Tulsa trying to make it with the Rams as a third-string quarterback, and the next he’s tooling around Beverly Hills with Sly.

“No, no, no,” Rubley insisted. “It’s not like that at all. Sly’s a real good guy, and he’s taught me a few things about my golf swing. But no, no, no, it’s not like we’re tight.

“Besides, that whole lifestyle thing isn’t me. I’m one of those people who stand off to the side. I’m like a wallflower.”

That’s just how the Rams wanted it a year ago. See no Rubley, hear no Rubley. Do nothing but stand there with a clipboard.

The plans have changed. The Rams intend to use training camp as a showcase for Rubley. It’s the wallflower’s opportunity to blossom.

“It’s been explained to both Mike Pagel and T.J. Rubley that we want to see how ready T.J. is,” said quarterback coach Ted Tollner. “Mike is a good No. 2, but in all honesty he’s at the other end of his career. T.J. will have the opportunity to become our No. 2 quarterback.

“All you can say now is that this guy looks like he can play in the league. Now we got to find out just how far his ability can take him. Then it’s up to (Coach) Chuck Knox, who will want to know, ‘Do you have enough confidence in T.J. that he can win right now if something happens to Jim Everett or are you more secure with Pagel, a guy who has been in the game before?’ ”

Said Pagel, 32, who has started 54 NFL games: “They are going to give him every chance in the world to be No. 2, and what I have to do is go out and raise the standard. I have to make him go much further to be the No. 2 guy.”

Rubley, whom Knox labeled the surprise of training camp a year ago, has prepared himself for this test. He stayed in Anaheim during the off-season and was a daily visitor at Rams Park. He threw to the running backs who remained in town, wore out wide receiver Todd Kinchen, and when no one was available, he threw at tires set out for his benefit.

“Guilt is one of my motivators,” Rubley said. “If I can’t say I was the best I could be, how am I ever going to be able to tell my children to be the best they can be?

“I look at guilt as a way to steer you away from temptation. Guilt is a consequence: ‘The pan’s hot. No, it’s not. Ouch!’ I am not going to be guilty of not preparing myself properly. If I can make myself play well, I know I’m a pretty good player. A damn good player.”

Rubley wears the jersey No. 12 of his idol, Joe Namath, a confident quarterback in his own right.

“My attitude is that I’m not a longshot,” Rubley said. “I look in the mirror and I see an NFL quarterback.

“In 1990, I was ranked by some draft experts as the third-best quarterback to be coming out. That puts you into the high-second round or late-first round category. I still have that mentality.”

Interest in Rubley, however, plunged after he suffered a serious knee injury down the stretch in 1990. He recovered, chose to remain at Tulsa for a fifth year and completed 57% of his passes for 2,054 yards and 18 touchdowns. He finished the season with a Freedom Bowl victory in Anaheim Stadium, and then waited as 227 other names were called in the draft before he heard his.

“I don’t buy into that ninth-round stuff,” Rubley said. “Never will. I don’t think because I’m a ninth-round pick I’ll never be a starter in this league. I think I can be. I think I will be.”

Rubley dazzled the Rams’ brass last year with productive training camp performances, a roster spot and a chance to guide the scout team each week.

“Every time we gave him the chance last year, he not only did what we hoped he would do, but in most cases he exceeded our expectations,” Tollner said.

Rubley has shown a strong arm, a willingness to run with the ball and a fiery nature when pressed to compete.

“From what I gather on what a good NFL quarterback would have to be, I think I’m about 45 to 50% there,” Rubley said. “I feel I can be more of a leader, by definition, someone who can help out their teammates in the huddle instead of someone who is just fighting to survive.

“This is why I’m so intrigued with the game of football. You can truly organize things and lead guys up and down the field. If you know what’s going on, theoretically you can kind of manipulate things on your own terms. It’s the little things, the little things that separate you from being a player or just some guy trying to develop.”

An experienced quarterback such as Everett, who remains unchallenged as the starter, has the benefit of 3,003 more NFL passes than Rubley.

“After Everett has played against San Francisco a sixth or seventh time, he can suggest an adjustment here or there,” Rubley said. “He’s suggested plays that we’re running now.

“I feel I can make the base play 10 out of 10 times now, but then you get the stunts, someone missing a block or a new look. For example, I overthrew a route in practice this week that I normally make time in and time out, but not in the situation in which it arose. . . .

“You can’t make that kind of mistake on Sundays,” he continued. “A year ago, I call that play and I’m looking at the ground trying to remember what to do and probably throwing it to a receiver who is covered.

“I’m doing better and I feel more competent now, but I’m just not prepared yet. I know that. But talk to me in six weeks after training camp is over; that might change.”

The Rams are counting on just that.